denialism | October 29, 2007How do doctors decide what is healthy and unhealthy? Do they arbitrarily decide on risk factors to line their pockets - creating false epidemics as Sandy Szwarc at Junkfood Science suggests? Or, is there actually a science, called epidemiology, that is the basis for health recommendations?
As I've said repeatedly, one of the sure signs you're about to hear total BS is if someone suggests there is some conspiracy by scientists or doctors to hide the truth. In an article challenging the use of serum troponin levels to determine whether myocardial infarction (MI) has occurred (a more…
denialism | October 29, 2007BPR3, or Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting has announced the release of their new icons. For those of you who don't know what this is all about, it's pretty simple. When we're not making up lolcats, and being all super-serious, we want to have a simple way to communicate to the audience that we're discussing the scientific literature itself. That is, we're not just reacting to idiotic press releases, poorly-written articles in major newspapers, or the latest misunderstanding of science by some crank. We're actually reading the science before we pontificate about it.
This…
choofnagle | October 26, 2007In today's Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Levitz and Kelly Greene report on lead generation firms (also known as list brokers), companies that sell databases of consumer information to businesses for marketing purposes:
Older Americans around the country are getting duped by a seemingly innocuous tactic that can expose them to hard-sell pitches from the insurance industry.
The technique is centered on a marketing tool called the lead card, and it became popular after the federal government created its Do Not Call Registry in 2003 to shield consumers from unwanted solicitors. Sent through the…
denialism | October 26, 2007It's the big news, at a FEMA press briefing FEMA employees threw softball questions to give the appearance of answering questions from the press.
. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.
Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External…
denialism | October 26, 2007In honor of Phenomenon and the fun of talking about magic tricks check out Ramana, aka Wouter Bijdendijk who has been doing the levitation trick shown below, only he's doing it in front of the Whitehouse.
Here he is doing a similar piece standing on the side of a building - more performance art really.
I think the only one who can't figure this one out is the current White House resident. It's clearly a terrorist attempt to bring the executive to a standstill as he tries to puzzle it out.
Spoiler below.
This, is of course, very simple. The two clues are that you never see him actually…
denialism | October 26, 2007I think I'm going to have to add a new behavior to the crank HOWTO based on the latest campaign by troofers to get attention by disruption.
First it was Bill Maher:
Who I think handled it right.
Now Bill Clin-ton.
Bill also does a pretty good job with the kooks. But it has me thinking that part of the crank HOWTO is going to have to be go to talks and shows that have nothing to do with your topic and start screaming. If you get tased, congratulations, you've been persecuted. Act like it was a victory too, and complain about being manhandled after you've disrupted a live television…
denialism | October 26, 2007Are placebo's really effective? So asks Darshak Sanghavi in Slate, citing this study from 2001 that shows the placebo effect, compared to passive observation, to be relatively minor for improvements in pain or objective measures of health.
This is an interesting topic, but unfortunately, a really bad article. Given how many alties love to stress the role of placebo and its apparent proof of the benefit of positive thinking, we should critically re-evaluate the evidence that placebos on their own can do anything more than improve subjective symptoms. Although there is a fair amount of proof…
denialism | October 26, 2007Both Orac and MarkCC have been having a blast tearing to shreds virtually every aspect of the latest nonsensical piece by Dennis Byrne based on this idiotic study at JPANDS.
One thing struck me in the two analyses, was MarkCC's emphasis on the idea of triage in assessing the scientific literature. This is fundamentally a good concept, but I think he was too kind to JPANDS in saying that they merely lacked credibility as a journal thus raising red flags. If we're going to look at this from the perspective of triage, an article from JPANDS is like encountering a dead body on a gurney…
denialism | October 25, 2007Le Canard Noir scolds me at the Quackometer for the 72nd installation of the skeptic's circle. Check it out!
denialism | October 25, 2007As promised, I watched Phenomenon, and I've got to say, I'm unimpressed. The premise of the show is there are 10 people with paranormal abilities vying for a 250,000 prize (they could make more if they tried Randi's challenge - I wonder why don't they?). The one that impresses the judges - fraud and huxster Uri Geller, and magician Criss Angel - as well as the studio audience who calls in and votes.
Not only are they obviously using simple tricks to pass themselves off as psychics, but they're not even that good at it. Geller, of course, is such a pathetic creep, and acts as if each act is…
choofnagle | October 24, 2007In today's Journal, Jane J. Kim writes very clearly about the different tools that are now available to consumers to protect themselves against identity theft. The article explains the advantages and disadvantages to each approach. Great reporting!
denialism | October 24, 2007This is why we need the Office of Technology Assessment (and listen to it), Bush is trying to bring back SDI, big time.
President Bush said yesterday that a missile defense system is urgently needed in Europe to guard against a possible attack on U.S. allies by Iran, while Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates suggested that the United States could delay activating such a system until there is "definitive proof" of such a threat.
The seemingly contrasting messages came as the Bush administration grappled with continuing Russian protests over Washington's plan to deploy elements of a missile…
denialism | October 24, 2007Or is unintentionally channeling them is my conclusion from reading his latest WaPo Op-Ed entitled, "The Eugenics Temptation". This Watson nonsense has somehow convinced all these conservatives that lurking beneath the surface of every scientist is a seething eugenicist, biting at the bit to escape and kill off all we see who are inferior. I've agreed with Gerson on a thing or two, but this essay is a real stinker.
"If you really are stupid," Watson once contended, "I would call that a disease." What is the name for the disease of a missing conscience?
Watson is not typical of the…
denialism | October 24, 2007I'd love to see what the angry toxicologist thinks of this scary article from CNN Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies.
Michelle Hammond and Jeremiah Holland were intrigued when a friend at the Oakland Tribune asked them and their two young children to take part in a cutting-edge study to measure the industrial chemicals in their bodies.
"In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all; I was fascinated," Hammond, 37, recalled.
But that fascination soon changed to fear, as tests revealed that their children -- Rowan, then 18 months, and Mikaela, then 5 -- had chemical exposure…
denialism | October 24, 2007Orac has brought up the interesting point that debating the homeopaths at U. Conn might not be a good idea.
On a related note, in a post derriding attacks on consensus I was asked by commenters if isn't it incumbent on science to constantly respond to debate; to never let scientific questions be fully settled. And I understand where they're coming from. These ideas represent the enlightened ideals of scientific inquiry, free speech, and fundamental fairness.
However, they're also hopelessly misplaced in regard to the problem at hand. That is, denialists, cranks, quacks, etc., are not…
denialism | October 24, 2007Sorry for the absence. Between travel, catching up from travel, and preparing manuscripts, I've been slow to blog. I'm back now, but still busy.
Meanwhile, I've been enjoying cectic's comics immensely. I can no longer figure out who in my RSS feed linked these strips, but they are awesome!
Case in point, anyone want to venture a guess who this refers to?
Ha!
choofnagle | October 23, 2007John W. Miller reports in the Wall Street Journal about an unusual, insurance company funded program that brings many to Lourdes:
In an unusual scheme, [VGZ] the Dutch company spends about $280,000 a year to fly 600 of its sickest and most disabled clients to Lourdes. The company doesn't expect the Virgin Mary to intercede. It hopes for a different sort of miracle.
"Lourdes leads people to compassion and friendship," says Johan Rozendaal, a VGZ board member. "They remember what it's like to have somebody really care about them."
It's difficult to quote from this article, because it's mainly a…
choofnagle | October 22, 2007All that stuff that the wireless industry says about being competitive is baloney! Cell phones in the US are big and stupid, and deliberately crippled to get you to pay extra for things that are natively supported in devices, like custom ringtones. And most Americans don't know any better because they've never used the higher quality phones and networks available in other countries! For a deeper dive on this, see Tim Wu's Wireless Carterphone, but for an overview of the problems, Walt Mossberg's column in today's Journal explains how the industry stifles innovation. This is an area where…
choofnagle | October 18, 2007Over at Threat Level Ryan Single reports that all of a sudden, Senator Rockefeller, the putative custodian of legislation to give telecommunications companies immunity from privacy lawsuits, is getting lots of cash from such companies. And most of these donations come from out-of-state donors (Verizon and AT&T employees who do not live in West Virginia). Suspicious! Single reports:
Top Verizon executives, including CEO Ivan Seidenberg and President Dennis Strigl, wrote personal checks to Rockefeller totaling $23,500 in March, 2007. Prior to that apparently coordinated flurry of 29…